Talk:Mass outbreak

Outbreak

Isn't this called swarming in the games? FabuVinny 09:55, 22 January 2006 (CST)

I think it was called that in the Gen II games, but then a trainer you exchanged phone numbers with would call you to tell you the good news :/ Manga-in-a-bottle 06:04, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

So then... why do swarms and this have separate pages? TTEchidna 23:39, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

Groups

I'm under the impression that people in the same group will have swarms on the same day. Can anyone confirm this?

Well, um, one of my friends and I had superheavy rain on Route 212 on the same day, and we're in the same group. TTEchidna 13:14, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Superheavy rain? Same group? What do you mean? Shiny^?! 13:17, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes, people in the same group experience the same Swarms. We've taken advantage of this several time to let each other know if we run into a swarm the other might be interested in. --Phred 04:01, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Okay, this is enough...

Is Tangela a swarmer or not? Is Tropius in the Safari Zone or not? Seriously. TTEchidna 13:15, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

No they aren't. Check veekun. Veekun's data is taken straight from the games, so it's guaranteed to be correct. Shiny^?! 13:17, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Um...

Shouldn't this article also cover swarming in the GSC games and the RSE games as well? Because I distinctly remember getting calls of certain Pokémon from certain people in GSC and seeing news coverages in RSE. - PDL

Yeah, I think the same... swarms DO exist in previous games, althought not in the same way they do in D/P. My cousin, who has Sapphire mixed records with my brother (who has Ruby) and then a TV report was saying that there was a Seedot swarm on Route 114, which obviously was strange, cause Seedot can't be caught in Sapphire. I think there should be info added on this too. hfc2X 20:28, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Actually, this happened to me too. You're the first one, excluding me of course, who I know having a Seedot swarm. This happened to me, though, without any recent link cable activity. UltimateSephiroth 12:35, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Should this article have the information on swarms from HGSS? --DSDark 15:49, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes, of course it should. If you have the information put it on the page. —darklordtrom 20:04, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Mass Outbreak

Hayley refers to Swarms as a "Mass Outbreak". Should the article be moved to this? -Sketchies 12:44, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

My official player's guide also refers to this as "Mass Outbreak". ~$aturn¥oshi ^{THE VOICES} 18:20, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Ought it be capitalized... like that? The o's not very important... TTEchidna 06:18, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

I dunno, tell GameFreak/Nintendo/whoever. It's not like we made up the capitalization.--Ｌｏｖｅはドコ？ (talk • contribs) 07:17, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Wrong!

It says that you can only find Dunsparce lv 16 but i recently captured one on platinum that was a lv 18! Is this a typo?--sorou 01:03, 30 December 2009 (UTC) I've caught 4 so far, 2 male and 2 female, all lv 18!!!--sorou 01:03, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

HGSS

I was going crazy looking for something that would tell me how to get the swarms in HeartGold and SoulSilver... Finally, I went to Serebii.net where it said that by going to Pokemon Talk radio channel it would tell me what swarms were happening and where. Is this correct? shouldn't it have this info on here..?--Moretacos 17:46, 26 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that is correct, and yes, it should be in the article. It is mentioned in the radio section of the Pokégear article, but unless you are just searching you wouldn't find that. Werdnae (talk) 18:23, 26 April 2010 (UTC)

Black and White outbreak

I don't have much data yet, but it seemed that outbreak Pokémon do not appear in dark grass patches.

Can't confirm the above, since so far it has been in sand for me ( route 4 ) But I will confirm probably 15-55 for levels. I got ( in order ) levels of 35,16,24,19,51 (Chromehawk 07:01, 17 April 2011 (UTC))

Outbreak triggers in RSE

Does anyone know what triggers an outbreak in RSE? I got a notice of one in Emerald (Skitty, which I already had *groan*) right after defeating the Elite Four, but I haven't had another notice of one since, in over a week. I want Surskit! Do you have to be playing at a specific time of day and check a TV at the right time? Pdf23ds 18:15, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

I think it's just because you're unlucky. Have you been playing it often, because RSE relies on its own game clock iirc. It's Turtwig A! My talk or wiki edits 18:19, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

List Order

Do these lists need to be in Pokédex order? I would think it would be much more useful to have them in order by route number, as you're much more likely to be looking up "the game's telling me where something's swarming, but not what" than "where is a particular thing swarming, if today should happen to be the day I'm looking for it". I tried adding a class="sortable" to the table, but that didn't sort it correctly (probably because of all the templates?). Anyways, just wondering what the most useful order for each list would be. --DarkfireTaimatsu 04:52, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Order on Bulbapedia is always National Dex unless there's a valid reason otherwise. And by route number would just be arbitrary. No one searches for the Pokémon they can find by mass outbreak by where they're found, they search what Pokémon they wanna find first. TTEchidna 05:13, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Actually, I do tend to check by route number. I'd rather see if the Pokémon swarming currently is one I need, resetting only if it isn't, than resetting until I get a specific Pokémon, for which I only have a 1/18 chance (in B/W; the chance is even lower in Gen. IV games). Route number would also assist by grouping version-differing swarms, making it easier to tell which Pokémon correspond. So no, I don't think it's "arbitrary". --Andy^P_K^M_N (talk) 12:10, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

I personally agree with Andy here -- listing them by National Dex order looks arbitrary, mainly because the National Dex numbers are not displayed inside the table. When the table isn't sorted by any of its visible columns, the viewer's first impression will be that it's not sorted whatsoever. We should at least be listing the National Dex numbers as part of the table.....

Now me, I've caught most of the outbreak Pokémon on my White version by now (with exception of I think Routes 13 and 14); since there are only a few routes left to check, any time I see a message on an outbreak I have to ask myself "have I done that one yet?" before deciding whether it's worth checking out. I probably missed catching Shuppet a few times because I could've sworn I had already checked Route 13.

But back on topic: Everything above given, this would become a moot point if we just add those convenient sorting buttons already present on most other Pokémon listings tables; then the end viewer could dynamically sort the table by whatever order is convenient to them, with no further changes to the actual article required. --Stratelier 06:50, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

PS: Hey, that actually wasn't too difficult. It's certainly not perfect (route numbers lack natural-sort order), but it's definitely an improvement.  :) --Stratelier 07:07, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Save/Reset Question

WHEN does the swarm get reset between saves in B/W? Can you save AFTER you play but BEFORE you check the swarm-- and if you do, will it still change? In other words, here's my sitch from this morning: I saved in Icirrus last night but wanted to swarm check before doing anything else. So I had to fly to Opelucid to the nearest Guard Station to check the board. *IF* I had opened the game and flown to Opelucid, *SAVED* in Opelucid BEFORE checking the board, THEN checked, would the swarm still have changed with each soft reset thereafter or would I have to wait 'til tomorrow? Any help with this matter is *greatly* appreciated! ArtemiSerebii 08:28 AM (EDT) May 6th, 2011

Now comments to the bottom please. I assume that it will be like Gen IV, where it is selected some time prior to the change of date, such that neither soft resetting nor changing the DS clock will change the swarming Pokémon. Werdnae (talk) 04:55, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Actually, any sort of reset will work, provided you have not already saved on that date. I've taken advantage of this multiple times. If you save after the date changes, though, even if you haven't yet inspected a board, the swarming Pokémon will be set in stone. --Andy^P_K^M_N (talk) 14:16, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Rustling Grass

Do swarming Pokémon appear in rustling grass? Porygon-man 01:20, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

No MasterGiygas 17:41, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

No outbreak today?

The notice of an outbreak isn't appearing on the message boards for me today. (Maybe the worls IS ending... just kidding.)--Chris Broach (talk) 21:32, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

Have you switched DS in the past 24 hours? --Abcboy (talk) 21:44, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

No. But it's working today. Oh well.--Chris Broach (talk) 06:44, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Platinum Errors

In Platinum, I actually found a Zigzagoon on Route 202 and had a Cubone swarm on Route 203. Also, it seems like most of the swarm info here doesn't match up with the route info. ----NateVirus(Talk|Contributions) 15:49, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

Ruby Outbreak

Nowhere is mentioned in the article that some pokemon in the outbreaks will have TM moves, i remember when i played Emerald, i found a Seedot swarm and they know Solar Beam, Frustration and Leech Seed, moves that it cannot learn by level, i even have proof, i recorded the event and uploaded it few years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkR1JgloyQc&lc=6ce_Cl5xaNb65QMF21IBFUCBYy45CE7Q8n5_rmhHmXo --WikiAldo (talk) 17:40, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Levels

Even though the article says that Snubbull on Route 209 can only be found at level 16, in Platinum I found one during a mass outbreak that was level 19. Is the level information in this article accurate? AGGRON989 20:17, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

Chansey's Lv. is listed as 23 on the outbreak page, which contradicts the encounter Lv. of 23–25 listed on the Kanto Route 13 page. I've yet to personally encounter one of the adorable lil' buggers during an outbreak on Route 13 with my Lv. 24 Stantler and a sack of Repels. Gamescook (talk) 05:51, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

Incorrect Swarm data for Generation III

The pokémon data given for swarms in Gen III is the opposite of what is given in the respective route pages. For example, this page says that Surskit swarm in Ruby/Sapphire and not in Emerald while the respective route pages say that they swarm in Emerald and not in Ruby/Sapphire. (See Route 102, Route 114, etc.). Also, they have other swarming pokemon for Ruby/Sapphire that are not mentioned in this page. -Ishu bagaria (talk) 07:46, 9 October 2015 (UTC)

Someone changed it here a while ago. I've not been able to check it myself, but if pressed to guess, for now I'd wager this page is correct. (Which isn't to say anyone should assume it is; if you don't know, check it somehow before changing whatever data.) Tiddlywinks (talk) 03:26, 10 October 2015 (UTC)

From what I can tell, Surskit naturally swarm in R/S but the swarm can be transferred to Emerald via record mixing. The game-exclusive Pokémon page only lists the Emerald part because that's the only part relevant to that article; that got transferred to the Pokémon location page. Blueapple128 (talk) 02:06, 5 July 2016 (UTC)

Move

In Black 2 and White 2, the most recent appearance of the outbreak mechanic, the mechanic is only referred to as "Pokémon outbreak" once, and as "mass outbreak" four times:

• "Are you checking the electric bulletin boards? Right now, news about mass outbreaks of Pokémon is really hot!"
• "Sometimes, there are mass outbreaks of Pokémon, right? A lot of the exact same Pokémon show up at the same time, and it's such a surprise! Like where were all of you before? If you look at the electronic bulletin boards, you can learn about them!"
• "Have you heard of mass outbreaks? Big groups of Pokémon appear during a mass outbreak. It's a great chance to catch them!"
• "◆ A Pokémon outbreak at <location>!"

To say that "mass outbreak" is not the "most recent term" is a bit of a stretch, when it is referred to as such more often in the Generation V games, and has been used since My Pokémon Ranch. --Abcboy (talk) 03:29, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

Generation III outbreaks

The Pokémon that appear in outbreaks in Gen III appear to have fixed moves. Most notably, Seedot and Nuzleaf has particularly special moves.

As mentioned above and on the German wiki, outbreak Seedot have the moves Solar Beam, Giga Drain, Leech Seed and Frustration (unfortunately, the video linked in the comment on this talk page is no longer available). Currently, the article only notes Leech Seed for Seedot, but it does also mention that outbreak Nuzleaf have Leech Seed too.

Additionally, as seen in this video, the level 15 outbreak Skitty found in RS only know Growl and Tackle (when they would normally know Tail Whip, Attract, Sing, and DoubleSlap at that level). On the other hand, as seen here, level 8 outbreak Skitty found in Emerald know Growl, Tackle, Tail Whip, and Attract, as would be expected for their level.

Due to the internal batteries of my games being dry I don't get outbreaks in Gen III anymore, but I think this is something we should look into. --SnorlaxMonster 07:35, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

Also, as seen here, level 15 Surskit in RS only know Bubble and Quick Attack, whereas normally they should also know Sweet Scent. --SnorlaxMonster 09:48, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

Here you go: [1] [2]

Use wisely. Nescientist (talk) 16:13, 1 February 2018 (UTC)

Generation II durability

Could anyone please confirm swarms only last 30 minutes in Gold and Silver; in Crystal? From a brief look at the Crystal disassembly, it looks like they lasted the whole day, and our original source appears to be a GS-only Prima Guide (which could potentially be unreliable too). Nescientist (talk) 15:08, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

It's 30 minutes according to my Prima Crystal guide.--Tmwps (talk) 16:05, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Generation II games

Is there any way to increase the frequency of a swarm in the generation II games, or are they completely at random? And if I encounter one by simply waiting, given that 30 minutes works in real time rather than game time would resetting it and going back into it nullify the swarm? I'm playing Pokémon Gold and I want a Qwilfish, but I'd prefer if possible to not have the file's play time any longer than it needs to be.--Tmwps (talk) 05:19, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

I imagine if any information was known, it should be listed on the page, and if it's not there it should be added. --Spriteit (talk) 07:09, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Generation II Tauros Swarm is missing

On Route 38 (in Gold/Silver at least) there is a female NPC that calls you for Tauros Swarms, in addition the the NPC calling for Snubull swarms. This should be added.